On Saturday, June 13, 2009 my wonderful children, William and Keisha, will graduate from headstart.  My husband and I are very proud of them.  They have learned so much over the past school year… things like: writing their first and last names, counting to 100, improving on handwriting skills, letter recognition in words, spelling two, [...]

On June 3, 2001 I met the love of my life at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. That day, we played the Cincinnati Reds and we won 4-3 but other than having my ticket stub, I cannot remember much of the game.

Click the image to enlarge.  The June 3, 2001 game stats are [...]

Something Borrowed and Something Blue.
On Friday, December 5, 2008, the love of my life and I joined in holy matrimony… two souls became one before God, our family and friends.
On Sunday, November 16, JT and I had a drink (mine was Bahama Mama) and a couple of appetizers (fried mozzarella cheese sticks and popcorn shrimp) [...]

Do you ever go into a situation where you know up front that you should not be doing what you are about to do? Something is on your mind, you are not dwelling on it but nevertheless it is on your mind. You think about not saying anything about it but you go [...]

My morning did not start off so well and I let that mess up most of my day. The Bose alarm clock is set for 4:45 a.m., but I rarely hear it go off. JT is in charge of the alarm, unless I set it for myself. JT will usually turn the radio off shortly after the alarm (music) comes on. I hate the buzzer alarm because it scares me to death, so we wake up to the music instead. On a morning when we do not oversleep, JT will wake up about 20 minutes later. He then tells me it is time to get up.

Over the last year or so, I thought we had come to an understanding that unless it is absolutely necessary, I am not going to get up immediately after he tells me. I guess I was wrong with my assumption. I really hate getting up in a rush. When that happens, I usually get a headache from jumping out of my skin and I did not have an opportunity to get my thoughts together.

I did not argue with JT but deep down I believe that a part of me wanted to. I tried to explain that I just needed a few more minutes, but I got zero sympathy. None. Zilch. Nada. So, I got my pissed off ass out of bed, went into my bathroom, kept the light off, turned the space heater on, locked the door, laid a towel on the floor, put my robe on and laid on the floor for about fifteen minutes.

Then JT went to grab the kids and the next thing I know, I hear William and Keisha knocking on my bathroom door.

Nice move there.

1. Under what conditions can you have the perfect nap?

No music, no television, no other background noise, no children saying, Mommy, Mommy… and fighting, no telephone ringing and no one else talking to me (or trying to talk to me).

2. Under what conditions can you let most of your guard down?

Around people that I have known for a long while and I trust… then I can let my guard down.

3. Under what conditions can you do your best writing?

When I have some classical or jazz music playing in the background, something tasty to drink like a hot cup of green tea and no one disturbing me.

4. Under what conditions would you give away everything you own?

Everything? If I knew that I was going to die at a particular moment, then I would give away special items to loved ones.

5. Under what conditions would you kiss a stranger?

For $250,000. Enough to pay off the mortgage, other debt and buy a car.

http://www.friday5.org/?p=85

On Sunday evening, when I found out that my Dad and a little brother I have never met (and knew nothing about), were both going to be staying with me for nearly a week, I thought I was going to faint. I stood there in the freezer section, Sunday evening, in a daze. JT said something to me and that snapped me out of my daze. Between March 2001 and roughly June 2004, the relationship between my dad and I was virtually non-existent. After I became pregnant in 2004, I called my dad to tell him the news and work toward rebuilding our relationship. It has been an ongoing learning experience since then.

The week went by much better than I anticipated. I have a pretty good track record for when I go into a situation thinking the worse, then it almost always turns out not as bad as I thought it would. The first night (Monday night) was awkward, but I gradually felt at ease about talking about some old memories and untouched subjects. I hope that my dad has really listened to what feelings I have shared with him. I am thankful that I had a chance to be with him so much this week, particularly the last two nights where we talked for hours.

This morning my Dad left to head back to Colorado. I was a little bit sad about that. I hope that he is able to come down here next summer. I should have taken a picture with him. I do not have a picture of my Dad and I. That kinda sucks considering how into pictures I am. They left about 13 hours ago, so I imagine that they will be heading into Denver within the next two hours. I hope they did not run into any snow storms.